No matter how many words you write, or hours of videos and photos you put together, it perhaps won't be enough to describe MS Dhoni... his brilliance on the cricket field as a batter, keeper and captain and his demeanour and conduct as a person. Dhoni is one of those rare characters. Even in a cricket-frenzied nation like India, it is hard to match Dhoni's fandom. Everything has been written and spoken about Dhoni for two decades and yet, the man, his legacy remains a mystery.
There is a blockbuster Bollywood movie, many books, countless articles and videos trying to describe Dhoni's cricketing journey, his astute sharpness as captain and his unmatched ability to finish matches with the bat. But are they enough? How much is too much when talking about Dhoni?
On MS Dhoni's 42nd birthday (July 7, 2023), we won't try to find an answer to that, for we can't dare to. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), however, did their best to sum up one aspect - his ruthless power-hitting - of Dhoni. In just 70 seconds, BCCI put together a montage of some of MS Dhoni's massive sixes during his long and illustrious career.
Surprisingly, the video does not feature Dhoni's iconic six that won India the 2011 World Cup or any of his helicopter shots in the early phase of his career as it concentrates on some of his monster hits mostly between 2016 to 2019. There were many memorable hits in the short video captioned as "vintage Dhoni" but there was one particular six that Dhoni during the 2019 ODI World Cup against Australia that rendered Virat Kohli speechless.
VIDEO: BCCI wishes MS Dhoni with ‘70 seconds vintage’ video featuring legendary captain's six that shocked Virat Kohli
{{/usCountry}}Surprisingly, the video does not feature Dhoni's iconic six that won India the 2011 World Cup or any of his helicopter shots in the early phase of his career as it concentrates on some of his monster hits mostly between 2016 to 2019. There were many memorable hits in the short video captioned as "vintage Dhoni" but there was one particular six that Dhoni during the 2019 ODI World Cup against Australia that rendered Virat Kohli speechless.
VIDEO: BCCI wishes MS Dhoni with ‘70 seconds vintage’ video featuring legendary captain's six that shocked Virat Kohli
{{/usCountry}}It was a Mitchell Starc delivery aimed at his pads and Dhoni, in no mood to play second-fiddle launched into it using his strong bottom hand. The bludgeoning flick shot went 87 metres and landed deep into the stands. Such was the brute force of that shot that it attracted the best-possible reaction from Kohli. Standing at the non-striker's end, Kohli had a look of disbelief watching the ball sail over the fence.
India won that match quite easily and also qualified for the semi-finals without breaking a sweat but Dhoni's dream of ending his career with another world title remained unfulfilled. India's batters faltered against New Zealand pacers under overcast conditions in the semi-final in Manchester. And Dhoni, even though did his best, was run-out by a Martin Guptill direct hit.
That turned out to be Dhoni's last match in India colours. The talismanic cricketer announced his retirement from international cricket a year later. In his glittering international career spanning 15 years, Dhoni played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20Is, scoring 4876, 10773 and 1617 runs respectively. He is to date, the only captain in world cricket to have won all three white-ball ICC trophies.
Dhoni continues to ply his trade in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. A couple of months ago, he led CSK to their fifth IPL title, matching Rohit Sharma's tally.